Sometimes a song throws you in all different directions, like you’re a ball in one of those maze toys you had to jostle around to solve. That was me listening to “easier”, the new single from New York-based artist eilonwy, whose name I’ve only heard in the film The Black Cauldron, one of the darker films in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection.
“A very warm summer song about growing and trying to move away from pessimism”, eilonwy says to describe “easier”. The journey towards optimism, as the music suggests, doesn’t come easy: A somewhat spaced-out groove with a funky repeating bassline guides us along winding musical paths, with eilonwy’s sonorous voice leading the way. She takes on a timbre very similar to Chappel Roan, who borrows elements from the school of Kate Bush: Equal parts yearning and bewitching.
“Oh God, when will my tongue stop ruining things brought to me by luck?” eilonwy sings as the warmth hits – feeling more like a rush of white heat – about three minutes in. After a quiet bridge, the beat drops and the guitars blare, like a triumphant fanfare of reaching the threshold between darkness and light. It symbolizes a fever about to break or the clouds parting after a long, violent storm. Or, to go back to the ball-in-a-maze metaphor, it feels like the moment right before the ball drops into the final hole, landing in the Finish slot with a satisfying click.
This is not the work of a songwriter trying to find their footing: This is the song of an experienced but underrated artist whose own career is about to – or at least should – burst wide open. Take a listen to “easier” below.
Written by Will Sisskind
